Hospital visits and talks with a former traveling partner

Finding herself in a hospital when she finally woke up after Xen's draining ritual was slightly startling though understandable, Vali didn't really recognize that she was in a hospital until she was able to stay awake longer than two minutes. The doctors didn't allow for any visitors until she was able to stay awake for ten minutes, but they did allow her pokemon to be in the room. The bigger ones had to stay in their pokeballs because the room wasn't exactly built for big pokemon, but having at least some of her pokemon helped ease the anxiety she felt at being in a hospital again. Litwick wasn't among her pokemon which was alarming, the League official that came to get her statement about what had happened stated that the little pokemon was currently in quarantine until the ghost was cleared. She didn't like it, but couldn't argue against League Policies. But the League official assured her that Litwick would be her pokemon, she had captured it fair and square.

Xen's words had proven true and everyone used in the ritual hadn't been harmed and had woken up within hours save for her. Colin had woken up with no memory of Xen or what had actually happened. He was apparently one of the caretakers of Pokemon Tower. With no memory of the events and no proof that he'd committed any crimes, the League released him though his job at Pokemon Tower had been terminated. Vali had been slightly sad for the creepy man, but the memory of him carrying that girl into the ritual room kept her from feeling too deeply about the situation. The League had spun a story about a ghost smuggling operation gone wrong to explain what happened in Lavender Town to the general public. Despite everything that had happened, Lavender Town would be just fine.

Velma and Lewis came to apologize for leaving her alone while in Lavender Town. Both had gotten into trouble for doing that, they were both being put through remedial training as a result. Vali tried to protest due to how serious the situation had been, but neither would budge forcing her to accept the apology.

Vali was cuddling with Houndour who'd been dropped off by Professor Oak during a brief visit when a knock sounded on the door. Looking up from the article she was reading to Houndour, she called out, "Come in."

Aragorn, Eevee, Elrond, and Pippin who were currently out alongside Houndour tensed a bit as the door opened to reveal Lt. Surge. Pippin let out a happy mew and darted towards the Gym Leader stumbling slightly. Lt. Surge let out a loud laugh and bent down as his Raichu jumped from his shoulder. Jolteon slipped into the room beside Raichu with the two moving towards the bed. Lt. Surge picked up Pippin as his pokemon greeted hers. Eevee perked up a bit at seeing Jolteon and moved from her pillow to go greet the electric eeveelution who looked happy to see the other. Houndour looked at the newcomers in interest, but didn't leave her side. Lt. Surge looked at her as he carried Pippin over, "You look tired for someone who's been sleeping so much, Kid."

"Considering what happened, I think I'm allowed to look tired," Vali replied as she turned her head to look at Houndour, "Houndour this is Lt. Surge. He and his pokemon are good friends,"

Houndour perked up and finally went to greet Lt. Surge as the man set down Pippin. Lt. Surge smiled and scratched the Houndour's ears, "Not a bad size, young?"

"Only hatched almost two weeks ago," Vali answered as Raichu jumped onto the bed, "Hey, Raichu. Nice to see you again,"

Raichu walked over to her and hugged the fire-type trainer around the neck. Vali hugged Raichu back as Lt. Surge said, "You get into trouble a lot, Kid. That luck of yours, it's definitely something."

"Yeah," Vali released Raichu to greet Jolteon, "So what's up with the visit? No offense, but I don't think Gym Leaders leave their cities in the last days of the Circuit to visit trainers,"

Lt. Surge snorted as he finished petting Houndour who then began greeting his pokemon, "It is when I'm delivering a certain pokemon that has been in League custody and wanted to make sure my recommendation didn't get you hurt."

Vali perked up at that, "Litwick?"

Lt. Surge reached into his pocket and pulled out a great ball, "Here you go, Litwick is officially your pokemon."

"Thank you," Vali took the pokeball feeling it warm against her fingers, "Surge, I'm actually glad that you recommended me. I wouldn't have gotten Litwick if you hadn't. The situation sucked, but it gave me some valuable experience. So thank you,"

Lt. Surge snorted with a slight grin, "You really are a strange kid, you know."

"So I've been told," Vali gripped Litwick's pokeball smiling a bit.

"Are you alright?" Steven asked after Vali had finished explaining the situation in Lavender Town to him while watching her pokemon train.

Granted Vali hadn't been allowed to say everything, Lt. Surge had been very clear on how much she'd be allowed to say to anyone especially someone from another region like Steven. She had given much the same information about the Lavender Town incident as the League was feeding everyone not in the know, but had gone a bit more in-depth. She had mentioned meeting Xen, but not the specifics. All Steven really knew was that a pokemon had knocked her out during the last bit of fighting. Bending down as she pushed away the bolt of guilt that ran through her for not giving him all the details, she picked up the ball she'd picked up for Houndour and threw it again earning an excited bark from the pup, "Just really tired, I'll be fine soon enough. Delia and Professor Oak are making sure I'm not over working myself. Elrond's helping them," The Alolan Raichu had been a big mother hen since they'd been reunited after the League Pokemon Doctors had cleared him, "I'll be fine by the Conference."

"You're still competing?" Steven asked with a worried look on his face.

"Of course," Vali understood where Steven was coming from even without knowing all the details, "We've worked so hard to compete, Steven. Throwing it all away just because of Lavender Town doesn't make sense, we weren't seriously hurt," She took a seat on a tree-stump as Balto raced by with Aragorn and Arwen nipping at his heels, "I talked about it with everyone and we ended up deciding not to waste all the effort we've made to get to this point,"

"I see," Steven didn't look like he completely agreed with the decision, "If you're all sure, I don't really have much to say," Vali was glad that he wasn't just dismissing her decision, "So you've got a Litwick now?"

"Yeah," Vali glanced towards where Litwick was practicing Will-o-Wisp, "She's a real sweet-heart. From what Surge told me, she's pretty young by ghost-pokemon standards. Only 15 years old," Which was ironic given how old she would've been had the de-ageing not happened, "She isn't much for actually battling. She will battle, but she's more interested in just playing right now. I'm guessing that she might end up being a contest pokemon or a showcase one. I'm still going to train hard with her if only to make sure if she does have to battle that she'll do well,"

"Every pokemon is diffrent," Steven agreed with a slight smile, "It'll be interesting to see how you'll train her," A low boom sounded as a wave of heated air flew past the clearing she was currently sitting in, "What was that?"

"That would be Smaug training with Empress," Vali's tone turned a bit dry, "My dragoness decided that she needed a better opponent to train with and decided to pick fights with Smaug until he agreed," She huffed at the soft laugh that Steven let out, "Smaug's taken to tossing her around whenever she's too annoying. It's a good thing Bagon have some of the most durable bodies among baby dragon-types or we'd be in trouble," She eyed him curiously, "So how are the tunnels?"

"Not bad, the pokemon are getting stronger each time we've gone lower, but we haven't encountered anything we can't deal with," Steven looked pleased, "Metagross is actually enjoying themselves a lot. The electromagnetic field of Mount Moon is forcing them to develop a higher level of control over their psychic powers alongside Claydol,"

"That sounds pretty exciting, it looks like your opponents during the Conference will have to fight two pretty powerful psychics," Vali was happy for the two and couldn't wait to see their future battles, "Seen any of the Clefairy-line?"

"Only a few glances, they don't seem very interested in anyone outside of observing what's probably going to be their first ever humans," Steven looked a bit disappointed, "It's a shame. I was hoping to see more of them,"

"You probably will before alls said and done," Vali smiled at Houndour as the puppy dropped her ball in front of the fire-type master-in-training and picked it up feeling very glad that she had gloves on since spittle covered the entire pink orb in a sticky clear mess, "If you do, I'd love a photo,"

"I'll try to get one," Steven promised with a chuckle, "How is being back in Pallet other than that mess?"

"Not bad, Professor Oak is pretty busy with his current big project, so we're not getting much one-on-one time," Vali threw the ball and watched as Houndour took off after it, "Ash and Gary are both over the moon, they've been working really hard with their pokemon. Ash is definitely going to do well outside of school when it comes to trainer battles. He's quick on his feet and able to think of some really good combinations on the fly. Gary will probably have a bit of trouble, but with Bellsprout at his side, he'll flourish as well,"

"That's good to hear," Steven hummed lightly, "I look forward to seeing their progress,"

"Delia's been helping me figure out new recipes for everyone," Vali rubbed her hand against the grass, "Everyone's been training so hard that we've had to change up their diets to ensure they're healthy. Aragorn's second tail has come in very well though he's still having a bit of trouble figuring out how to use it," Aragorn tripped almost as much as Pippin and often had trouble using fire based attacks since his control was off, "I never realized how much the Vulpix-line used their tails to control their fire-based attacks,"

"That actually makes sense given that they have so many ta-ls," Steven image blurred, "V-li..."

"Steven," Vali almost groaned, "You're breaking up,"

"T-lk -o yo- l-ter," Steven responded as the image went black with a low popping sound and the words signal lost ran across the screen.

Putting her pokenav away with a low sigh, Vali stood up as Elrond floated towards her carrying an unconscious Pippin in his psychic grip. Elrond set Pippin down, "He's going to be out for awhile."

Vali grabbed her medical bag and began treating Pippin's injuries. The Luxio was trying to learn Wild Charge to add another attack to his repertoire. Good idea in theory, Pippin was finding it hard to keep from tripping up on top of not running into things with Wild Charge. Needless to say, Pippin spent more time rolling around on the ground and hitting things. She shook her head lightly, "Perhaps Pippin should practice his other attacks for awhile."

"That will probably be a good idea," Elrond noticed the lack of her phone, "Did you finish your talk with Steven?"

"The call cut," Vali would be very glad to see Steven in person if only to actually finish a conversation, "How goes your own training?"

"Fairly well, I can almost lift a Graveler," Elrond looked pleased with himself, "Magic Coat is somewhat difficult, but I should have it down in time for the Conference,"

"Just make sure you don't overdue it," Vali told him as she sprayed the heavy bruising across Pippin's legs and chest where the worst of it was, "You don't need to exhaust yourself especially with the Conference so soon. Alright?"

Elrond nodded his head as he settled down beside her, "I won't," His right ear twitched a bit which Vali had come to realize meant he was psychically observing their pokemon family members, "Terra has about finished mastering Outrage according to Dragonite," She would have to set Terra up to mastering Ancient Power a bit more alongside another attack though which one was the question, "Celina's progress on Tailwind is going about as well as Pippin's attempts at learning Wild Charge," She bit back a soft snicker since her Pidgeot was likely throwing a small tantrum at messing up her feathers, "Pele is making some good progress on Lava Plume though its slow," Which was good since the Numel needed another attack in her repertoire, "Eevee is practicing Stored Power, but his store of energy is becoming too low for him to continue much longer," They'd meditate together fairly soon, "Idril is coming this way,"

The breathless tone Elrond used at that last part earned a concerned look, "Elrond?"

"It's time," Elrond murmured as his ears twitched joyfully and his cheeks began to spark.